


Dig

by Jessa



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, Background Meliorn/Jace Wayland, Bisexual Jace Wayland, Bonding, Canon-Typical Internalized Homophobia, Canon-Typical Pining, Coming Out (themes), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Flirting, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Insecure Alec Lightwood, Isabelle Lightwood (mention) - Freeform, Jace Wayland (mentions), M/M, Meliorn (mentions), Mild Language, Music Video Director Magnus Bane, Rock Star Alec Lightwood, Simon Lewis (mention) - Freeform, Supportive Magnus Bane
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-18 19:41:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28997682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jessa/pseuds/Jessa
Summary: So in the music documentaryDig, David LaChapelle recalls an exchange between him and Courtney Taylor about how natural his makeup actually was in a video they shot. Well, what if that scene happened between Magnus and Alec? Here’s what if.Or... Alec is secretly in love with Jace but Jace has feelings for someone else. But all it takes is one heart-to-heart with Magnus and Alec has feelings for someone else too.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 4
Kudos: 41





	Dig

**Author's Note:**

> I have had this idea for a Shadowhunters/Dandy Warhols AU for so long, I’m glad I could finally write something down!
> 
> I hope you enjoy this and thank you for checking it out <3 <3

“It’s _your_ fault.” Alec points a sharp finger towards Magnus again and then he turns on his boot-heel and storms away from the stage. 

He’s just seen the rough cut and he’s appalled. And embarrassed. Why do they always put him in so much makeup? This is why their videos never go mainstream. This is why people just think of them as indie. They’re not indie anymore, they just got signed to a major label. They’ve got Magnus fucking Bane doing their optics. Things should be going a fucktonne better than this. Alec should be feeling good. But he’s not.

The seasoned music video director storms after the stroppy lead singer. And when Magnus reaches the darkened corner of the warehouse - which Magnus has been quickly forced to learn is Alec’s habitual place to storm off into and sulk - he addresses the accusation by pointing out what, to his eyes, is plainly obvious. Or some of it at least. There’s rather a lot about this guy that, to his eyes, is plainly obvious; but it’s probably wisest to start with the thing that’s not a secret. The thing that Alec can’t hide.

“This is what your face looks like, Alexander! This is what your face looks like with no makeup! I’ve done the minimum, I’m not lying! You look like this, okay? Like _this_.” 

Magnus gesticulates wildly to places all over Alec’s face because Alexander Gideon Lightwood doesn’t seem to understand what Magnus is saying. Even though Magnus has said this fifty fucking times now, each time in what he feels like has been in the clearest of terms. Monitors don’t lie. He’s a good-looking man who doesn’t need enhancing. And he’s not even wearing a full face of natural makeup anyway; it’s just a bit of primer and liner, that’s all. 

And there’s been absolutely no innuendo from Magnus either. And there could have been; Magnus isn’t known for subtlety but he is known for innuendo. But there’s been none of that here because Magnus has read Alec in a particular way and that is fine. No one should be forced out before they’re ready and Magnus is not about to out him. Plus, Magnus is a professional. He’s not getting paid to counsel rock stars, he’s getting paid to make their music videos and that is absolutely all too. That is _absolutely_ all too. 

Only it’s not.

“Okay, do you wanna know what I think? Alexander? What I think is that you’re really stressed out. Okay?”

Alec has crouched down to the floor, out of view of the monitors which all transmit a flickering blue image of the stage and the band. Izzy and Simon sipping from bottles of Evian and Jace looking engrossed in something Meliorn is saying; Meliorn’s one of the dancers, who nobody really knows very much about, but who Alec knows he definitely does not like. Alec’s eyes linger on him and Jace; from here he can still see the stage. “Yeah, I’m stressed out,” he grouches. “Happy?”

Magnus breathes a sigh of relief. He crouches down beside him. “But you’re not stressed out about music, right? This...emotion you’re displaying...well...that isn’t really about makeup at all, Alexander, is it?”

Their backs are to the black studio wall behind them and Magnus fully sits down now, knees raised, and leans back against it. He tilts his head towards Alec who’s adopted a similar posture by now, although he has his legs laid out flat in front of him. His hands are fiddling with the braided leather bracelets he wears around his wrists. 

Magnus scans this section of the studio. The nearest cameras are unattended. No runners are around. No assistants. No dancers. The closest movements still come from the stage, which is a good twenty metres or so away from here; the label has hired him a cavernous warehouse to shoot in, it always does. So Magnus is very aware of how sound travels around this space. Even so, he says this very quietly: “Have you told him how you feel?” 

Alec’s eyes flick up from his bracelets. He scans the warehouse too. “No,” he whispers, drawing his knees up all the way to his chest and slouching further down the wall as though he could hide behind his drawn-up knees. As though they were another wall, but one just low enough for him to still peep over. His eyes follow Jace, still on the stage with Meliorn.

It doesn’t go unnoticed to Magnus. It hasn’t gone unnoticed to him since the moment he first saw the two of them together. “Known him for very long?” he asks.

Alec wriggles but he doesn’t squirm. He tilts his head closer to Magnus. “We grew up together,” he murmurs. “Played at each other’s houses, you know?”

“Right.”

“And I just always knew I’d start a band with Jace. I’d never wanna be in a band without Jace. If he ever left it, I’d break it up, it’d be over. There’s just no replacing him, you know? No one’s as good as him and no one ever would be. But people are always trying to get him to play with them, I’m sick of having to tell them to fuck off and that Jace is in _my_ band. He’s _my_ lead guitarist. And _no_ band would ever look after him like _my_ band does. I make so much money, I can give him everything he wants. Drugs, guitars. Europe, Asia... I could even buy him a house if he wanted it. I write almost all the songs, do you know how much money I make? Did I ask that already?”

“Yeah, you did, but... I mean, Alexander, I’ve only known you both for a couple of days but I don’t get the impression he’s about to leave your band at all. Okay? You have great chemistry on stage. He seems to be enjoying himself. He seems happy. In your band...with you.”

“He likes girls.”

“I like girls,” Magnus says. “But I like boys too. Do you know for sure that he only likes girls?”

Alec looks at Magnus. Then he looks back at Jace.

“Has he told you outright that he’s straight?” Magnus asks, also looking back at Jace.

“No,” Alec says. “But... I don’t know.”

“You’re in love with him, aren’t you?” Magnus asks, beginning to study the way Jace moves in front of Meliorn, as well as the way Alec watches him do that. “And it means that you don’t like watching him with that guy at all, do you? You know what? I’ll tell you two things for free, Alexander... The first is that...well... So, right now? Your Jace over there? He looks just about as straight as I do.”

Alec sighs. “I can’t be in love with him. He’s... I’m _so_ sure he’s straight.”

Together, they watch Jace laugh at something Meliorn’s just said; cock his hip and run his fingers through his hair, flashing his wrist in the dancer’s direction.

“Alexander... You see, to me? I’m sorry, darling, but that is, like, textbook flirting-”

“Oh my god!” Alec huffs, his stomach doing kickflips. “The fuck you mean by that? I just sat here and told you that I... Ah, nevermind... Just forget it.”

Magnus sighs again. “I’ll leave you alone for a bit, okay? I’m sorry for prying into your life. I just thought perhaps you needed someone to talk to.” He starts to make a move to stand up and get back to the stage. There’s things they can film without Alec and he’d prefer not to risk the shoot running off schedule. 

“Wait a minute, what was the second thing?”

“I’m sorry?” Magnus pauses.

“You said two things,” Alec says, not wanting him to go away. “You were gonna tell me two things for free. Remember?”

“Oh.”

“What do you do, anyway?”

“Huh?”

Alec’s managed to peel his eyes away from Jace by now and they have settled on some of the finer things about Magnus’ face. Like his eyes. For the first time, Alec really notices his eyes. “When you’re not shooting videos, what do you do?”

Bemused but pleased by the sudden turn in his mood, Magnus takes a moment to answer, relaxing back against the wall. Maybe there’s still a possibility he can talk Alec out of this fug and get him happy and back up and onto the stage again today. It would be preferable to finish what they’ve only just started, rather than call it a day, and postpone. Have to set all the shots up again. Have to go through that whole fucking makeup thing again. “Well, this is my full-time job, Alexander. I do all sorts of projects.”

“What did you do before this?” Alec asks. “You know, like...to make money?”

“Well, I waited tables for a while.”

“Oh, no shit, I did that too!” Alec smiles.

“Well, there we go,” Magnus says kindly, smiling back at him, and getting caught for a moment again in re-appreciating the fine work he did this morning on Alec’s minimal eyeliner; just enough eye to enhance his prominent brows, and set off the flecks of hazel in his irises. “That pretty face of yours is looking much brighter now... See, if you could see what I can see now, Alexander, you’d never complain about the touches of makeup, honestly. All they do for you is enhance what’s already there, you’re gorgeous. I feel like I need to say that to you. I feel like you might need to hear it today. Because I’ll tell you something else for free. A beautiful man like you is missing a lot if you’re waiting for someone to look who’s just looking somewhere else. Even if you are both looking for the same exact thing.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that... Well, maybe your Jace would say it too if he knew it was what you wanted to hear. Maybe he just thinks you’re not interested. He does seem to know what he’s doing. But not everyone can wait, do you know what I mean? Looks like... Well...yeah... Looks like maybe not everyone wants to.”

Alec swallows, very purposefully avoiding looking back up at the stage now. Focusing again on Magnus’ eyes. And on the iridescent flecks of orange glitter which glimmer just beneath the curve of each of his eyebrows. They look a lot tidier than Alec’s eyebrows do. Maybe he wouldn’t mind so much if Magnus did a tiny bit of work on them too. “Don’t tell me what they’re doing up there, please,” he murmurs. “Are they kissing?”

“Not yet,” Magnus murmurs back. He starts to study a little gap in Alec’s right eyebrow. Trying to distract him from the kissing Jace and Meliorn are now doing on the stage. “Did you shave your eyebrow once? Is that what this is, Alexander?” He reaches up to touch it very gently with the tip of his index finger. “Have I asked you this before? I love this detail about your face. Promise me you’ll never let anybody else do your makeup so that I can be sure that nobody ever tries to fill this with pencil, it’s so endearing on you.” 

“It’s a scar,” Alec says, letting Magnus touch it, enjoying the way it feels to have him stroke along his brow line there. Jace has teased him playfully about it before, but no one has ever touched it like this, in the gentle way that Magnus does now. “I got a cut playing tennis once.”

“You got a cut playing what?” Magnus can’t help but balk and smile. “Please advise me, darling, how one gets a cut playing a non-contact sport.”

Alec grins. “There’s a reason I’m a rock star, sir.”

“Well, what is it?” Magnus teases. “You can’t do a thing without drama, is that it?”

“No!” Alec laughs. “It’s about the only thing I _can_ do. That’s why it’s so important... You know?”

Magnus hums in response to that. For a minute, they both just sit there, looking at each other. Magnus’ hand works its way down to the leather bracelets around one of Alec’s wrists and Alec’s fingers feel the edges of the rings Magnus wears on his fingers.

“Hey, Magnus?”

“Mm?”

“Do you dig on, like, vegan food, by any chance?”

Magnus smiles. “Alexander, I think I would dig on just about any kind of food if you were inviting me to dig on it with you. Do you know that?”

Alec beams. He can feel his heart flutter. He takes his first peek in awhile up at Jace on the stage, ending perhaps the longest spell he’s endured today without looking to see what he’s doing. He looks happy. And that makes Alec even happier about the fact that he’s about to say this: “After we’re done here today, well...would you wanna go get a bite to eat with me, Magnus?”

“Sure,” he murmurs, still smiling at Alec.


End file.
